BRF (NYSE:BRFS) Rating Increased to Neutral at The Goldman Sachs Group

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) was upgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $3.10 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $1.90. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 8.82% from the company’s previous close.

BRFS has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BRF from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised BRF from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Barclays raised BRF from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $2.50 to $4.00 in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BRF currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3.55.

BRF Price Performance

BRFS opened at $3.40 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.14 and a 200 day moving average of $2.78. BRF has a 52-week low of $1.15 and a 52-week high of $3.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.89 and a beta of 1.95.

BRF (NYSE:BRFS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion during the quarter. BRF had a negative return on equity of 8.52% and a negative net margin of 2.29%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BRF will post 0.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRFS. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in BRF by 2,443.7% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,670,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,518,000 after buying an additional 5,447,910 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in BRF by 62.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 13,902,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,500,000 after purchasing an additional 5,357,987 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in BRF by 27,582.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,847,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,078,000 after purchasing an additional 3,833,130 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in BRF by 132.8% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,190,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in BRF by 2,292.6% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,914,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,730,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792,398 shares during the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BRF

BRF SA engages in raising, producing, and slaughtering poultry and pork for processing, production, and sale of fresh meat, processed products, pasta, margarine, pet food, and other products. The company's product portfolio comprises meat products, including frozen whole and cut chicken, frozen pork, and turkey; processed food products, such as marinated, frozen, whole, and cut chicken, roosters, sausages, ham products, bologna, frankfurters, salamis, bacon, cold meats, other smoked products; and frozen processed meats comprising hamburgers, steaks, breaded meat products, kibbeh, and meatballs, as well as chicken sausages, chicken hot dogs, and chicken bologna.